Getting the all-clear as Swinderby clamps down on entry-fee dodgers

06 April 2009Written by ATG Reporter

THIS van, pictured here, was clean, but dozens of others were not when security checks for entry-fee dodgers swung into action at Swinderby on March 31 and April 1.

Arthur Swallow Fairs, who organise the Swinderby Antique and
Home Show found 40 dodgers in the back of vans by 8.30am on
opening day, an hour and a half after opening time. Each dodger
would have saved themselves £15, the entrance fee on Tuesday at
Swinderby.

Other fair organisers have also been attempting to tackle the
same problem for some time.

Talking to ATG from the Newark showground on Thursday, April 2,
the first day of dmg Antiques Fairs'International and
Collectors Fair, dmg's Daniel Ferrett said: "It's a very
common practice, entrance charge-dodging, particularly when
stallholders stay overnight in the car park the night before.

"We've been random checking and searching vans into the ground
for some time now and we already got a few people this morning who
are unwilling to pay the £20 entrance fee (this covers both
Thursday and Friday).

"Of course, if entrance-dodgers can get in with a stallholder,
they have the pick of the fair at 7.30am on the first day before
the public opening time of 9am."

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